Method for data synchronization with mobile wireless devices

• US 7,979,516 B2
• Filed: 08/11/2005
• Issued: 07/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Dacosta, Behram Mario
• Primary Examiner(s): Joo; Joshua
• Application Number:
  US11/202,581
• Publication Number:
  US 20060056336A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,161 Days
• Field of Search: 709220-227, 709/203, 709/231
• US Class Current: 709/221
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5681 Pre-fetching or pre-delivering data based on network characteristics

Abstract

A system and method of non-interactive communication with wireless networks for a mobile wireless device such as a telephone, personal digital assistant (PDA), laptop, or other device configured for performing data transfers with an unreliable network, and the playing back of multimedia received over said network. The invention allows a user to send and receive email, web and other data updates in physical areas and locations of limited signal coverage without the user periodically activating the device for updating data. Furthermore, the invention allows non-interactive receipt of multimedia content for viewing when a network communication outage arises. In one embodiment a second (or subsequent) multimedia stream is received and stored in a data repository for playback when an outage arises. The programming of the device is configured to retrieve the content within the second multimedia stream in response to device programming, user set parameters, learned behaviors and/or non-user based selections.

Claims

1. An apparatus configured for providing multimedia access from a mobile wireless device configured for communicating over a wireless network subject to communication outages, comprising:

a wireless transceiver configured for establishing streaming wireless data connectivity with said wireless network;

a data repository configured for storing multimedia data retrieved from the wireless network;

programming stored in memory configured for;

automatically playing back a first stream of multimedia data received through said wireless network in response to user activity;

automatically monitoring the first stream against an available bandwidth;

automatically communicating with the wireless network to receive a second separate stream of multimedia data when not playing the first stream or when the first stream is played at a data rate less than the available bandwidth, without direct user interaction, for storage in said data repository for playback when a communication outage arises between said apparatus and said wireless network;

periodically collecting content in said data repository;

detecting said communication outage;

alerting a user of said apparatus to said communication outage and either providing options to the user with regard to playing back content stored in said data repository from at least said second separate stream or playing back the periodically collected content in response to detecting said communication outage and based on a length of said communication outage; and

playing back the second separate stream multimedia data stored in said data repository in response to said communication outage.

2. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein said apparatus is selected from a group of mobile wireless devices consisting essentially of:

personal digital assistants, satellite communication links, laptop computers, cellular telephones, interactive watches, package carrier tablets and vehicular data systems.

3. The apparatus as recited in claim 1:

wherein said multimedia data comprises audio content, video content, or a combination of video and audio content;

wherein said wireless network comprises a wireless peer network, a local network, a wide area network, or the Internet;

wherein said second separate stream is stored and not immediately played at the time of receipt; and

wherein the multimedia data stored in association with said second separate stream is available to the user of said apparatus when a communication outage arises.

4. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, further comprising additional separate multimedia content streams which accompany said second separate stream and are received without direct user interaction for storage in said data repository for playback when an outage arises in communication from said wireless network.

5. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein said automatically communicating with the wireless network to received the second separate stream is configured to retrieve multimedia streams and store the first stream and second separate stream in the data repository in response to device programming, learned behaviors, user selection, service provider selection, and/or content provider selection.

6. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein content of said second separate stream is retrieved from said data repository and played back in response to length of outage, device programming, learned behaviors, user selection, service provider selection, and/or content provider selection.

7. An apparatus configured for providing multimedia mobile wireless data access to a wireless network subject to communication outages, comprising:

a transceiver configured for establishing wireless data connectivity with a peer network, local-area network, wide-area network, or Internet;

a computer configured for controlling said transceiver for interactive retrieval of multimedia streams including a first multimedia stream from the wireless network and non-interactive receiving of at least a second multimedia stream from the wireless network;

a memory coupled to said computer configured for storing data of said second multimedia stream as retrieved from the wireless network; and

programming configured for execution on said computer for,

playing back the first multimedia stream in real-time in response to user selections while communication remains established with said wireless network,

monitoring the first multimedia stream against an available bandwidth;

storing in said memory, without additional user interaction and when not playing said first multimedia stream or when said first multimedia stream is played at a data rate less than the available bandwidth, the second multimedia stream received in background while wireless communication remains established with the wireless network;

periodically collecting content in said memory;

alerting a user of said apparatus to a communication outage on said wireless network and either prompting the user of said apparatus to select from said data received from said second multimedia stream or playing back the periodically collected content in response to detecting said communication outage and based on a length of said communication outage, and

playing multimedia content stored in said memory from said second multimedia stream in response to detecting said communication outage on said wireless network and said prompting said user.

8. The apparatus as recited in claim 7, wherein said apparatus is selected from a group of mobile wireless devices consisting essentially of:

personal digital assistants, satellite communication links, laptop computers, cellular telephones, interactive watches, package carrier tablets and vehicular data systems.

9. The apparatus as recited in claim 7, wherein said multimedia streams comprises audio content, video content, or a combination of video and audio content.

10. The apparatus as recited in claim 7, wherein said programming is configured for retrieval and storage of said second multimedia stream in response to device programming, learned behaviors, user settings, service provider settings, and/or content provider settings.

11. The apparatus as recited in claim 7, wherein said programming is further configured for storing in said memory at least portions of said first multimedia stream in response to device programming, learned behaviors, and/or user selections.

12. The apparatus as recited in claim 7, wherein data rate available to said second multimedia stream depends on activity of the first multimedia stream in response to user selections, and available bandwidth of a wireless communication channel.

13. The apparatus as recited in claim 7, wherein data rate available to said second multimedia stream is constrained to a minimum value in response to said first multimedia stream being subject to any bandwidth limitation during playback wherein playback data rate is less than available bandwidth.

14. The apparatus as recited in claim 7, wherein said computer is configured for decoding multimedia streams communicated using forward error correction techniques.

15. A method of non-interactive wireless playback of multimedia streams on a network device operable on a network subject to communication outages, comprising:

(a) establishing connectivity from a network device with said network;

(b) receiving a first stream of multimedia data from said network in response to user interaction;

wherein said multimedia data comprises audio content, video content, or a combination of video and audio content;

(c) monitoring the first stream against an available bandwidth;

(d) when not playing the first stream or when the first stream is played at a data rate less than the available bandwidth, receiving a second stream of multimedia data from said network non-interactively in response to device programming, learned behaviors, user set selection, content provider selection, and/or service provider selection;

(e) storing said multimedia data from said second stream within a data repository configured for storing multimedia data;

(f) periodically collecting content in said memory;

(g) detecting a communication outage between said network device and said network;

(h) alerting a user of the network device to the communication outage and either prompting the user to select from said multimedia data received from said second stream or playing back the periodically collected content in response to detecting said communication outage and based on a length of said communication outage; and

(i) playing back the second stream of multimedia data stored in said data repository in response to said communication outage and said prompting said user.

16. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprising detecting beacons prior to establishing said connectivity over the network.

17. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprising decoding multimedia streams communicated using forward error correction techniques.

18. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprising storing a portion of the multimedia data received from said first stream of multimedia data for playback during outages.